Sonja Logan, who was the victim of a brutal car-jacking three years ago, is lucky to be alive after the incident in the starting gate last month
Sonja Logan, with husband Tommy, and the x-ray showing the repairs made to stabilise her pelvis
A champion jockey was ‘nearly killed on the spot’ after having her pelvis crushed when the horse she was riding fell on top of her. In 2023 Sonja Logan was attacked by a group of men trying to steal her car. During a terrifying ordeal they threw a brick through her window, then smashed her in the face with a rock.
Her nose was broken in three places, her lip cut and her front teeth broken three weeks before her wedding day. The men who made off when the alarm was raised have never been caught. She described the pain she endured with a half ton racehorse pinning her down as ‘the worst I’ve ever felt in my life’.
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Logan was aboard Jumping Power Two, trained by her husband Tommy who had won his last four races under the jockey, when the six-year-old gelding was spooked by something.
“We were in the barriers when he reared up,” Logan told Mirror Racing. “The back gate came open and I fell to the ground. He fell on top of me and as soon as he hit me he crushed my pelvis. Then he got stuck on top of me for a bit, which made the pain worse.
“A couple of ambulances were there. I was drugged up so I could be moved with a pelvic brace fitted to me. They took me to Darwin Royal Hospital. I was there for a day then they flew me to Adelaide Royal Hospital because there is no pelvic surgeon in Darwin.
“With my break it was pretty much like a car crash impact so I was crushed hip to hip. They put two screws in my right hip and a plate down the bottom with six or seven screws holding it all together.
“The way that he crushed me, if he’d landed on my ribs he would probably have killed me on the spot. I was just lucky that he landed on my pelvis. With every pelvic break you get internal bleeding but my body managed to stop the bleed. I was very lucky.”
She added: “Pain wise, this was number one. It was literally the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. It was also scary at the thought of it potentially having a broken back as well.”Logan is now recuperating at home, able to get around with the help of a walking frame.
She went on: “We are looking at six to eight months, it depends on the healing and the rehab. I know jockeys that haven’t come back from it and others that have. It depends on the pain level when I get back riding, which is what I am aiming for.”
After the carjacking Logan, who has ridden 547 winners, returned to riding and managed to take out the Alice Springs premiership and finishing top rider in Northern Territories, yet behind the scenes she had been struggling, falling into depression and heavy drinking.
She reversed her mental decline and shook off her anxiety by taking up competitive bodybuilding and has a support network to help her through her latest setback.
She said: “I wasn’t scared this time. While it hurt more than anything the horses was an innocent animal. He didn’t go out intentionally to hurt me. There are different feelings to when I was assaulted.
“I am lucky to have good people around me who have been so supportive through all of this, and especially my husband Tommy who has literally had to help dress me every day.”
